use your words project

day 30: emilia

2008-04-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

thank you to everybody (anybody?) who visited once and awhile to share this project with us and thank you to all our buddies who faced the pressure of picking quotes for us and thank you thank you thank you to kristy for putting up with my crazy ideas and doing this with me every day (almost, kinda). i would share this chocolate bar with you but i already ate it and the tequila is almost gone so...big hugs!

day 30: kristy

2008-04-30T21:14:00.001-07:00

ok, so i was totally resistant to this quote...it is the kind of thing that is written on a night shirt that my grandma would give me for my birthday with frilly shoes and silly hats cartooned all over...but in the end, it gave me the excuse to call some friends on a wednesday and say, "wanna go get a margaritas & pretend it's summer!?" it was a lot of fun and to tell the truth, i don't make as much time or allow the frivolity of drinks on a weekday with my friends as much as i should. i am always tired or busy or lazy or something and i think that if i were to be honest about this project in general, i stopped making excuses! so how fitting that this last quote was the embodiment of that idea. for one whole month i was committed to this page (sadly, a major feat) and i will truly miss the quotes, the photos, the light, the searching and the scrambling.

i will ABSOLUTELY miss 7 days a week being in contact with emilia...i will miss the pictures, i will miss the words - cheers!

day 30.

2008-04-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

today is the last day of april and thus the last day of use your words, thank you to all who have enjoyed this as project much as we have. today's contribution is from the lovely sera:

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a Margarita in one hand, chocolate in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'Woo hoo! What a ride!'"
~anon

day 29: emilia

2008-04-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

here it is. the burns. the gaudiest of the gaudiest paintings one might find at a thrift store. but only captain mccool would ever consider actually taking something this hideous home and forcing me to look at day after day after day after...

it has become a conversation starter, inside joke, and, hey let's face it, kind of part of the family and for that reason, and that reason alone, it might not be a true gimcrack.

day 29: kristy

2008-04-29T20:18:00.001-07:00

first of all, what a great word! gimcrack...so immediately when i thought of showy, but useless - i thought of these earrings. they are showy, a fabulous chanel creation that was given to me long ago, but as fancy as they are...they are also heavy, unpractical and fake. they speak to the decade from where they came - the 80s - and while i can appreciate them it's usually only in my jewelry box as an nostalgic throwback to the years of excess. in the end, they are too big and fly off of my ears when i move my head because of their weight...gimcrack.

day 29

2008-04-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

today's word from dictionary.com:

gimcrack \JIM-krak\, noun:1. A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw.
adjective:1. Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy.

day 28: kristy

2008-04-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

for those who don't know me - my mother is a dance teacher, i grew up in a house filled with music and ballet barres and mirrored walls. no, not in my living room, but in our basement which was also her studio. i danced my whole life and while i was more comic relief in class, than shining example of grace and technique, i truly loved it. when i moved to college i couldn't sleep at night because it was too quiet, i was used to tap shoes and thundering bass under my pillow. dance will always be a part of me.

day 28: emilia

2008-04-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

my love is dance too! even though i stopped taking classes and dancing with a company a long time ago i still dance everywhere, everyday. i make up dances in the shower, find myself doing plies at work, and am constantly getting caught in a port de bras. it has become such a part of me that sometimes i don't even realize that i'm doing it.

day 28.

2008-04-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

today's quote, courtesy of brainyquote:

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."
Helen Keller

day 27: emilia

2008-04-27T22:08:00.001-07:00

browsing the kids section at target i noticed a lot of toys that could influence bigger, more complex versions of themselves (robot pandas, anyone?)but these guys are considered toys no matter what their size.

day 27: kristy

2008-04-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

this is the fischer price queen buzzy bee, just another genius invention that just so happens to be a toy. i also have the dog version of this toy which i couldn't find today, but this silly girl i picked up at a flea market for $3 for my niece & nephew because snoopy was getting a little worse for wear after 30+ years. i just love her - the queen has a leash and as you pull her the wheels make her wings twirl and her antennae wobble. VERY advanced technology for a bean shaped piece of wood with paper decals and i have spent numerous years of my life walking around my house with one or the other of these wheeled creatures in tow.

day 27.

2008-04-27T11:59:00.002-07:00

today's quote from quotations page:

We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

day 26: kristy

2008-04-26T22:22:00.001-07:00

so this is a long story, BUT i was at the hospital until 1am today and before that had driven 8 hours (normally 6) from new york to maine...the only thing fresh i saw today was the banana i ate this morning and the package of baby carrots i ate in the car. if i had a re-do of today rather than a medical foot ailment i perhaps would have made something from the fresh ingredients that were on my friend brandi's shelf earlier in the week...like citrus salad with avocado and vodka-tonic with lotsa lime.

day 26: emilia

2008-04-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

i was very excited for this quote because i got to make one of my favorite meals. it's pretty simple but so so yummy. beet and spinach salad with goat cheese and walnuts and salmon cooked in dill butter. so tasty!

day 26

2008-04-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

from qotd.org:

"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients." - Julia Child, 1912 - 2004

day 25: emilia

2008-04-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

reminder: i live in san diego. it is never winter here. it is, to quote another female singer, "75 / with no mountain snow." and i know i was supposed to get something out of the lessons learned bit but i had sushi deli on the brain and just couldn't do it. so here is a road heading east to my lovelies who i miss and wish i could take a highway, jet plane, sailboat, motorcycle, scooter...you get the idea...back to.

day 25: kristy

2008-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

ok, so on my last day in new york i have come down with a swollen foot and limp...google-ing and webmd-ing just leave me with anxiety about possible spider bites and/or amputation, but luckily i have had plenty of nurses and tylenol for this unknown ailment. the one good thing about laying around all day with your foot elevated watching DVR is that you can scope out the room and find leftover christmas decorations, like this "let it snow" gem that was still hanging in sera's window. i had to move it out of the window to avoid a glare and as i hung it on the tv case, this scene from bridget jones was playing and it was snowing and ironic and perfect...i only had to rewind it 3xs to get the shot.

day 25

2008-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

From Captain McCool:

"What will sustain us through the winter? Where did last years lessons go? Walk me out into the rain and snow. I dream a highway back to you." - Gillian Welch

day 24: kristy

2008-04-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

OK! so emilia's post is hard to follow (i MISS you!), but the thing i was enthusiastic about today (but really for about A WEEK) is this meal. my fabulous friend sera, who i am crashing with, has a great BF pete who is a top chef (not the horse & pony show kind like on bravo tv, but the real deal workhorse-one-in-a-million kind). he made me a completely gluten-free feast that i am still stuffed from and we ate it around the coffee table with friends (some VIPs were missing though) - what could be better? not much, the menu included chicken lettuce wraps, guacamole, cucumber salad, matchstick salad, mango salsa & wine. it was YUM. it was better than i can do justice with here in words or pictures and then to cap it off? strawberry sabayon for dessert...wow.

day 24: emilia

2008-04-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

i was mid-post, naming off things that i'm enthusiastic about when it hit me. i'm pretty enthusiastic about this blog and being forced to be creative everyday and having conversations through emails and images with one of my best friends who i didn't get to talk to as much as i would have liked before we started this project. ok, now i just have to start projects with dannikke and sera and ashley and ellen!

day 24.

2008-04-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

today's quote from quotations page:

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about. "
Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875)

day 23: emilia

2008-04-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, I had been drinking last night (one glass of wine). and playing cranium. and completely forgot to post. so here is the evidence of last night this morning.

day 23: kristy

2008-04-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

well, what was i thinking when i said goodnight? thank gawd! it was a long night of drinking and debauchery, so when i got home to upload my photos i thought this best displayed my night...it's either a picture of the trash from our taco dinner fiasco OR a picture from inside my purse...not sure what i was thinking, but a fun night was had by all!

day 23.

2008-04-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

thank you danny for today's quote, which is actually a song lyric. i thought it might be fun to listen to the actual song since i hadn't heard it in a while, you too can enjoy:

"You were so right when you said I'd been drinking
What was I thinking when we said good night?"
- Wilco - I am Trying to Break Your Heart

day 22: kristy

2008-04-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

ok, so after a long drive to new york city yesterday, cocktails and dinner with friends in brooklyn and a catch up session over dishes late night i had realized that i hadn't taken any photos or blogged all day. i ended up leaving a post very late that ended with - "...i suck, better luck tomorrow." i even claimed mulligan with a photo from 2005...bad.

i had horrible dreams all night and woke up early to edit this with a new photo. this is a picture from the corner of my friend's living room - lilacs tall in a vase, a hand-carved end table, a leather chair & ottoman with the new york times travel section waiting to be read...this is dreamlike to me. it is like the quintessential sunday i never had when i actually lived in the city.

day 22: emilia

2008-04-22T20:35:00.001-07:00

bear with me. in my research today trying to figure out how the heck i'm going to photograph dreams i found this site of dream quotes. i picked a few of my favorites and, though it's not very green of me on this earth day, i'm going to leave them on this tree for a couple days. maybe someone will take one of these ideas with them throughout the day or the week or the month or their life and keep it alive. and i found my new favorite quote: "I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each others dreams, we can be together all the time." - Hobbes (of Calvin and...)

day 22.

2008-04-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

many thank yous to sera for today's quote -

"The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it's only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on."
- Chuck Palahniuk

day 21: emilia

2008-04-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

i have a big, warm, gooey spot in my heart reserved just for chocolate. chocoholic, sweet tooth, you name it. i have pretty high expectations when it comes to my chocolate but I won't refuse a hershey bar now and then either. These yummy little bites were ok and they definitely hit the spot. i can always count on that satisfying feeling after I pop a morsel of dark chocolate in my mouth. mmm mmm.

day 21: kristy

2008-04-21T18:24:00.001-07:00

chocolate may be more reliable than a man, but nothing is more reliable than one man's sweet tooth and that is my dad's! i can always count on him to whip up some chocolate concoction (especially if i put the thought in his head). this is all that was left tonight after we polished off the gluten-free cake from this weekend...yum.

day 21.

2008-04-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

the quote of the day brought to you by, qotd:

"It's not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let's face it, far more reliable than a man."
- Miranda Ingram

day 20: emilia

2008-04-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Margot Fonteyn was one of the great prima ballerinas of the 20th century. Dance has always been, and will probably always be, my favorite of the arts. One of the reasons I like dance so much is that it is so ephemeral. You can't go back for a second look like you can with a painting or sculpture. Even if you see or do the same piece twice something will always change - the articulation of the wrist or the particular way the dancer is feeling. It is something so precious that you must enjoy in the moment before it is lost forever. I took this photo at the Jose Limon master class this weekend and I like the way it captures the fluidity of the motion and the inability for even the camera to capture the fleeting moment.

day 20: kristy

2008-04-20T16:24:00.001-07:00

i love seashells, they are beautiful & simple & unique. this is a collection from my trip to nantucket last summer, and what i love about shells is that on any given day you will find something completely different than the day before. the sea can't help itself, the tide brings in a new supply everyday and shuffles out the old which will turn up new on another beach for someone to discover.

day 20.

2008-04-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

today's quote is from quotations page motivational section, enjoy!

"If I have learnt anything, it is that life forms no logical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?"

Margot Fonteyn

day 19: emilia

2008-04-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

this is my desk which somehow became captain mccool's space for...well...everything and anything. i don't know how he could possible work like this but somehow he does. maybe i could fit my laptop on the desk if the reproducing stack of paper wasn't eating the desktop. Seriously, those papers multiply faster than mixing water and gremlins.

day 19: kristy

2008-04-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

i do NOT want to know what this picture of my (rarely used) desk says about me, although i'm pretty sure i already know...do you like how a set of 4 martini glasses that i bought LAST summer at a yard sale are the bookends for my stack of paid, yet-to-be-filed bills? i do.

day 19.

2008-04-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Today's quote from Quotation's Page:

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?"
Laurence J. Peter

day 18: kristy

2008-04-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

this is my fantasy AND my struggle: how to be of use? what is the best and highest use of my work, my energy, my passion. often these days life is a blur and i am juggling the fantasy of being useful creatively, intellectually and some other -ly...this picture is my computer, my degree and the picture of a special boy who has me thinking of becoming a foster mom...it's all piled under a rock paperweight which represents the tension in my neck these days as i try to figure out how i am of use in this big wonderful world.

day 18: emilia

2008-04-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

i feel like i've been pretty useful today but i didn't know how to document that. i could have taken a picture of the bagel and juice and cookie spread i prepared for the Jose Limon dancers this morning but that wasn't too excited. so instead i looked around the house for things that are very useful for me. it's sad that my cell phone made the cut but i wouldn't be able to work without it.

Day 18

2008-04-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

From Captain McCool:

"Most of my fantasies are of to be of use / To be of some hard, simple, undeniable use" - Bill Callahan

day 17: emilia

2008-04-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

i was a fan of this one because I didn't have to run home to try and catch the last teeny weeny bit of daylight creeping through my windows which are completed blocked from the sun by houses. I took a nice stroll with the puppy which got a little frightening inside the park. Even scarier near the public bathrooms because god knows what was happening inside there but I really liked the way the windows looked illuminated by the light inside.

day 17: kristy

2008-04-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

this is shining every night in my hallway. i am not afraid of the dark, but i did sleep with a night light for an unusually long time as a child.

day 17.

2008-04-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

today's word via wordsmith:

noctilucent (nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt) adjective
Shining at night.

day 16: emilia

2008-04-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

this is the first letter i ever wrote to captain mccool. i tried to find the ones he sent me but i think they're packed away. he probably doesn't want me revealing this mushy stuff. he sent me a letter and that's how our relationship began. no, not an email or a text message. like a real, handwritten, seven page letter...in the mail...with a stamp. it was very, very sweet and that's all i'm going to say about it before i make him blush.

day 16: kristy

2008-04-16T19:53:00.001-07:00

i love letters, notes & post-its. if you have ever sent or given one of these things to me or even left one on my door in college, chances are i STILL have it. i pulled out one of my favorite letters i received from my cousin max while i was away at college enclosed with my valentine's card (it was a crocodile hunter card!) it says (in his 5 year old writing): "deer cristy i hop you get the bigit lod of love" which i interpret as, "dear kristy i hope you get the biggest load of love".

day 16.

2008-04-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today's quote via brainyquote:

"Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls.
For, thus friends absent speak."
— John Donne, "Verse Letter to Sir Henry Wotton"

day 15: kristy

2008-04-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

sorry for the cell phone pic, but my digi-cam had an unfortunate run-in with a puddle at the bottom of my purse today...it will dry out and be fine by tomorrow (fingers & toes crossed!) but for today, here we go! since i am sans relationship, i thought i would put together the dvd & ipod compatibility test for the someone i seek. my movies are a mix, but for the most part i need a laugh and i am partial to cheesiness, see preview on the left. i also compiled an ipod collection (because our records got ruined in the flood last year!) that would be the equivalent of my life-soundtrack (simon & garfunkel, the carpenters, madonna, johnny cash), my college mix-tape (the cure, bon jovi, jay-z, wheezer, bob dylan) and my current obsessions (kate havnevik, the wreckers, feist, ingrid michaelson, the bird & the bee).

day 15: emilia

2008-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

anyone who knows captain mccool and i knows that you can take anything away from us just don't touch the records. we sometimes turn our noses up at each other's musical selections (*hem hem* michael mcdonald *hem hem*) but for the most part Blue Angel rests comfortably next to ? and the Mysterians and Laura Nyro and Prince try to get along.

day 15.

2008-04-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

thank you sera for your second contribution to the project:

"It's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently or if your favorite films wouldn't even speak to each other if they met at a party."
- Nick Hornby

day 14: emilia

2008-04-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

meet captain mccool and nana aka the sloth sisters or slothie and slothette or...anyway...i shouldn't say that about captain mccool because he's cooking a really yummy smelling dinner right now but nana...well, she's just a big lazy, fsuper cute fatty.

day 14: kristy

2008-04-14T17:58:00.001-07:00

HA! i totally had this confused with glutiny, so i'm glad i googled before heading off to the bakery! in my search i found that there is such a thing as deadlysins.com - no joke - and according to them sloth = the avoidance of physical or spiritual work. i am a grade A sloth, not only have i avoided the bike machine (my dad thinks this device is for hanging and displaying his belts and clothing, i cropped them out!), but i have also had a collection of spiritual & creative books that i literally pulled out of a moving box for this photo...i moved home in november of 2006. no worries, apparently the punishment in hell for this behavior is being thrown into a pit of snakes...can't wait.

day 14.

2008-04-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

today's quote via qotd.org:

"That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided."
- Horace, 65 - 8 BC

day 13: emilia

2008-04-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

i tried to take a picture of something stagnant today, metaphorically and literally, but we're in the middle of a heat wave/drought and any water that is on the road can't possible have been there very long because it's 100 degrees out. and then i ate too much food at pokez to think about anything else so i'm cheating. i know i know! but i think we should get one mulligan, right!? i really did take this picture but it was on a mountain, um, last june.

day13: kristy

2008-04-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

i saw the word today and thought hmmmm....i took a bunch of puddle photos all around the spongy lawn, but they were all from the melting snow and not exactly stagnant. our pool, which is usually brown & full of leaves at this time of year, is mostly covered in ice and surprisingly clear. i was striking out all over, but then as i walked back into the garage, i spied the pile of paint cans waiting to go to the transfer station...stagnant in appearance AND smell? yes.

day 13

2008-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today's word from Captain McCool:

stagnant
Main Entry:
stag·nant
Pronunciation:
\ˈstag-nənt\
Function:
adjective
Date:
1666
1 a: not flowing in a current or stream (stagnant water) b: stale (long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul — Bram Stoker)
2: not advancing or developing (a stagnant economy)
— stag·nan·cy \-nən(t)-sē\ noun
— stag·nant·ly adverb

day 12: emilia

2008-04-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

i know that zooey is being sarcastic when he says this to bessie in the bathroom so i was going to try and find something so awful that it would take a great effort to find the beauty in it. but i couldn't get a good shot of the fat, shirtless, sweaty man on the little bike with his crack sticking out of his pants (seriously, i saw this today). then i was doing laundry and listening to what must have been some deep, folky music and saw this shadow. i just liked it so much. so here ya go, beauty found on the laundromat wall.

day 12: kristy

2008-04-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

so, this is one thing that puts living in maine, in perspective: the sun setting behind the orchard and white picket fence...it just happens to be the view from my window. almost everyday this portion of the sky behind the farm across the street is stained pink, blue and yellow with sun and clouds. my parents built this house while i was in college and i remember that they would go to the land as it was being built to watch the sun set and then send me pictures. when i would come home for a weekend, i would sit and watch it myself, the massive sky lit up with it's last dance of the day - each time, as beautiful as the last. it is at the top of my short list entitled "things-that-bring-me-to-my-knees".

day 12.

2008-04-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

big thanks to our friend danny for contributing a little salinger for this saturday morning:

"That's my Achilles' heel, and don't you forget it. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset and I'm limp, by God, Anything. 'Peter Pan,' I'm a goddam puddle of tears."

- J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

day 11: kristy

2008-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

i would always rather being doing something else! it's kinda my damage, maybe less when i have worked with children, first as a nanny and now as a pre-school teacher - most days i am glad that i am there, but getting out of bed was a struggle. if i had all day to paint & sew & blog & create, i would sing my way out of bed like a disney character. i definitely say that for me: work is work, even on the best day.

p.s. on the left is the "something else" that i have been distracted by while at work all week, here's hoping for a productive weekend!

day 11: emilia

2008-04-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

this is the view from the roof of my office building. yes, that's the ocean. what you can't see is the sprawl of beach that goes for miles and miles. and, yes, i would rather be there then at work since it's like 80 degrees out today. so i guess my work is really work. happy weekend!

day 11

2008-04-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

friday's quote from The Quotations Page:

"Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else." -James M. Barrie Th

day 10: emilia

2008-04-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

what's the first place you think of when you hear (*hem hem* read) "unnecessary necessaries"? Me too! But I was too lazy to drive to Target and I had to get back in time for 30 rock so I went to CVS - the second best place to roam for hours buying ridiculous junk that you don't need nor, most likely, will ever use.

day 10: kristy

2008-04-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

unnecessary necessaries! well a pantry is for the most part full of those. besides the grains and spices, our pantry is full of the silly foods - note: mac & cheese, teddy grahams, cheez-its are all on full display. most things in this pantry i can't partake of anymore (the gluten free pantry drawer of our kitchen is WAY boring) but notice the stockpile of my items: hot sauce (the big bottle), salsa (3 jars!), jumbo honey and jumbo all maine maple syrup. the way i look at it, the only necessary items in the kitchen are probably found in your fridge (you know, the veggies hidden behind the squirty whip!).

i think the way that the free dictionary defines necessity is best:
"required by obligation, compulsion, or convention" - this is true of most modern snack food, makeup, shoes, fiction, etc. - all things i took pictures of tonight before choosing the picture with the best lighting.

day 10

2008-04-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

today's quote comes to us from quotes of the day:

"Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries." - Mark Twain

day 9: emilia

2008-04-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

i didn't know when the heck i was going to get around to taking this picture. i had a great idea too but i just couldn't get to it. i had work and then dinner and then jenna straightened my hair (for anyone who doesn't know me this is like a ten hour process) and i had a birthday party. at the nite owl. not really the hub of intellectual and artistic vigor i was hoping for. but the birthday girl was there and birthdays are always great days to start over or revive a part of your life or set new goals for yourself. also there was my dear friend who, let's just say, due to certain circumstances has a whole new life in front of him if he so chooses. so many options and paths are there for the taking and all he has to do is act. so here they are: paloma and kip.

day 9: kristy

2008-04-09T20:15:00.001-07:00

ok, dannikke, this was tricky, tricky and i may have taken the weasel way out but it was better than posting a sign that read, "there is no renaissance in greene, maine." (thanks for the suggestion though sera!) so since i was having a hard time, i googled "renaissance quotes" and found this gem that led me down the path to my picture today:

“I was at this restaurant. The sign said "Breakfast Anytime."
So I ordered French Toast in the Renaissance.”
~Steven Wright

i believe this is also in the movie swingers in some similar form spoken by jon favreau, but ANYWHO! it is even more funny because i am gluten free so i cooked this hoping someone else in my house would eat it. my dad's suggestion? "just cook up one of your gluten free waffles?" to which i replied, "dad, that's not the quote, what am i going to do put it in a french toast suit for the picture?" enough. so needless to say i took a picture of french toast that was taunting me with it's yummy smell just minutes before my bedtime.

day 9

2008-04-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

today's word comes directly from our friend dannikke, thank you!

Renaissance
n.

A rebirth or revival.
Renaissance
1. The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe.
2. The period of this revival, roughly the 14th through the 16th century, marking the transition from medieval to modern times.
often Renaissance
1. A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor: the Celtic Renaissance.
2. The period of such a revival.
*definition from answers.com

day 8: emilia

2008-04-08T19:53:00.001-07:00

it doesn't surprise me that kristy and i had similar ideas for this one. friendship and loyalty is very important to both of us. i, however, don't agree with some of this quote (and i think if we're weeding out crazies, kristy, i should be the first to go!). of course there are bad crazies and we don't need those people in our lives dragging around their negativity but then there are the good crazies and i think most of my friends (and, oh yes, that means you too phinney) fall into this category and they are very, very uplifting (and not just with champagne). here are a few of my lovelies getting crazy and lovin' every minute of it.

day 8: kristy

2008-04-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

well, this one was interesting...i almost called my friends in the area to say, "hey can i buy you a beer...and take your picture?" that would be awkward! so i put on my thinking cap, and thought about who my sane friends are, who my uplifting friends are - mostly, they are one in the same and luckily at this point in my life i have weeded out the crazies...or cuckoo-birds, as i affectionately call them! i wondered how i would show that in a picture - so i thought a logical way is to show the sanes & turn over the crazies like the natural editing process that growing older, growing wiser and growing more sane can be. i haven't gotten to be 28 years old without some hurt feelings or friendships lost, but the telling part is the people who remain, who have been there from the start, who have seen me at my very best and horrible worst. quality, not quantity is the lesson of the day(!) and if i never find another friend, i would be delighted to have chosen my family from the board above.

day 8

2008-04-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

TADA! day 8 and still going strong, today with a quote from oprah's "daily inspiration" email:

"You should not have crazy friends...but sane and uplifting friends."
-- Anne Sexton

day 7: kristy

2008-04-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

compartmentalize! well, this one came to me after a short while contemplating how to get inside of the post office to document little mailboxes. second i thought of my dad's tool chest or dance cubbies in my mom's studio, but it was all so boring and then (!) i was reading emilia's blog about having sold another peice of jewelry (yay!) and i thought i should wear my necklace tomorrow...envision my necklace...envision my drawer-o-jewels!

this is one of those $6 cheesy plastic organizers from a big box store that is absolutely marvelous (the divider, not the stores). i have been searching since college for a jewelry box that felt right and finally realized that i didn't want a ginormous furniture type thing BUT that i wanted to be able to see all my options, all at once - so i found this and it fits perfectly into my top drawer. the jig is up - now you know where i keep my valuables, passport and dental floss stockpile now:) this is one place in my room where everything has a place and my most treasured things are on display...for me to see!

day 7: emilia

2008-04-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

this is about at "compartmentalized" as we get in this house. we are not the most organized couple as noted in our morning of sifting through mail (some over a year old) and trying to figure out what can be tossed and what can't! oops! on top of that i'm sick in bed so leaving the house to take pictures at the container store was not an option. i set up this fruit for a concert this past weekend and loved the colors of the grapes and mandarins together. add in the bananas and voila!

day 7

2008-04-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

my dear friend sarah was kind enough to be our Monday word/quote contributor. Her word of the day is:

compartmentalize

com·part·men·tal·ize
Pronunciation:
\kəm-ˌpärt-ˈmen-tə-ˌlīz, ˌkäm-\
Function:
transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
com·part·men·tal·ized; com·part·men·tal·iz·ing
Date:
1925
: to separate into isolated compartments or categories
— com·part·men·tal·i·za·tion \-ˌmen-tə-lə-ˈzā-shən\ noun

{definition from merriam-webster}

day 6: emilia

2008-04-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

really i don't spend all my time taking pictures of books. how are you supposed to photograph silence? and behind words? so i tried to think of all the ways i could manipulate words in order to get another meaning from them. i'm not sure if this worked at all or makes any sense but this is all i could get before the sun went down!

day 6: kristy

2008-04-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

this post is especially hard today because i am down with a busted back...i woke up this morning thinking i would do a mini road trip and find dilapidated road signs or interesting corner stores...then reality set in. so as i was laying around and thinking about taking a picture of the 3 ladybugs in a row above me...they looked like elipses, the way i always find silences between my words...too much so sometimes:) BUT, by the time i crawled down the hall to my camera, they scurried apart. SO, as i lay down again, i only had to look as far as my wall. this is a painting i did in college called 'in my head' and upon closer inspection you'll see the permanent markered rants of a young me clouded by the raw marks of a sketchbook style self portrait. i thought to myself how silent my expression is for the anger of the words behind the paint on the canvas -
"i'm hungry. NO YOU'RE NOT."
"thin. FAT.
"I DON'T THINK THAT SHIRT WOULD FIT YOU."
"tie a shirt around your waist and you'll be fine."

clearly i was having a rough time when i set out to my studio that day, but my expression doesn't let on what wasn't so silent in my head.

day 6.

2008-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

so for today, the brave sera has sent us our first contributor's quote...it arrived to my inbox late last night, but i resisted temptation and just opened it now. p.s. - if you would like to be a "supplier of quotes" comment and let us know!

"We're fascinated by the words--but where we meet is in the silence behind them."
- Ram Dass.

day 5: kristy

2008-04-05T16:58:00.001-07:00

yay spring! today i shared my favorite spring quote and now for another spring star, my magnolia! when i was in college there was a magnolia on campus that i just loved, so when my parents moved out of my childhood home and built a new house, i told them that i would like a window seat in my room and a pink magnolia to be planted...needless to say i did not get the window seat(crushed childhood fantasy), but my plant(/bush/tree?) is too purty for me to care! most of the time though when it is in bloom in the very early (very rainy & dreary) part of spring and i am either not in town OR it pours for days just as the beautiful buds burst open in my most beloved color of deep-fuschia-berry. but as i watch the fuzzy buds appear and each day as the snow melts more, i am hopeful that this will be the year when i can enjoy their loveliness - sans rainy, soggy, melting petals. so here's to the poetry of spring, the way it makes me feel a little like a kid each day as i get excited for the sunshine on my face and the birds singing in the trees - cheers!

day 5: emilia

2008-04-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

this quote was new to me and i like it very much. i picked up a book of poems by children a year or so ago at a used bookstore that has gorgeous woodcut print illustrations. There is actually a whole section on spring! Here it is paired with my favorite spring color. I have some more photos of the book on our flickr page.

day 5

2008-04-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

today's quote is a quote that kristy had saved for spring:

"Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems." - Rainer Maria Rilke

day 4: kristy

2008-04-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

ok...so i too struggled with this quote and have high hopes for the next contribution from mr. mccool, BUT alas - a deal is a deal and so here is my best shot at this one, with the cold medicine as my co-pilot! i got to thinking, first of all who does that? who drives their boat far away only to wreck it and plant a garden and hide...(wait...that almost sounds good right now!) - so, i got to thinking of what would i pack in my bag for that trip? i thought, short list of items that i would like to have once hidden (and in this scenario, my busted hull has no electricity, so there in lies the end to the cell phone/ipod debate) so i looked around and thought - what are things that i would like to have besides food or things that will run out and don't serve a purpose while hiding out as a broken boat farmer...i have decided ON:

- a toothbrush
- composition book filled with graph paper (& pencil) so i can chart my garden & whatever
- a scarf (i heart a scarf) which is warmth & comfort & surrender flag material
- plenty of hair elastics (you know if you had just one it would break at sea before ever arriving)
- necco brand canada mints which would help keep my blood sugar up in times of need and make me feel like i was home
- my college quilt that my great-grandmother sadie hand-sewed and hand-quilted for me (yes, it is purple & yellow & i love it)
- palmer's cocoa butter swivel stick

discuss.

day 4: emilia

2008-04-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

i love my boyfriend, i really do, but this was a ridiculous quote for him to choose. it caused me much stress and anxiety. i better get a foot rub later or something. i'm not happy at all with how this came out but ah well. tomorrow's another day and another quote.

day 4

2008-04-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

quote of the day from captain mccool:

“i will sail to the far shore, and i will chop a hole in the hull too big to repair,and i will turn the soil with my hands,and i will make my home there. my garden will grow so high.my garden will grow so high.that i will be completely hidden.” John Darnielle (Mountain Goats)

day 3: emilia

2008-04-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

with all the stuff we collect, all the clothes we HAVE to have, all the knick knacks we accumulate, if we really sat down and thought about what was important to us it wouldn't be that pair of designer jeans (well i hope not) or the stark ghost chair (well maybe), right? no it would probably be the little things that were handed down or given to us by loved ones. here are some things that i don't move without: a picture (actually several) of my grandmother, a ring that belonged to her (missing the setting), and a little lucky crane from my sister.

day3: kristy

2008-04-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

this was my little something that got me through today...for anyone who doesn't know, this has been a hard week for me and for particularly no reason at all i have felt annoyed or "rar" as i like to put it, all week long. today was long - my head is stuffy, my back is a wreck, and there are just NOT enough hours in the day to do everything that i have committed to lately. these are the days when i would have (in my former life) reached for the forbidden cigarettes or chocolate cake and instead i just had to make it through my day to get a touch of starbucks...frown now all you haters, but i was adicted to starbucks on the west coast and weened myself off of it here in maine, but today all i needed to transition from long day into fun night out with some friends was a solo shot, 1 packet of sugar in the raw & a splash of rice milk...it was my deep breath today in between worlds and the most important selfish decision i have made in a while. i was late for a meeting, and stressed from packing up my gluten-free food for the night and delayed by the chiropractor - so what was 15 more minutes in the opposite direction? it's the little things and after a little pocket change and a few extra minutes in the drive-thru, this little thing picked me up and dusted me off from my week of unexplained "rar".

day 3.

2008-04-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

quote of the day via quotations page:

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are
infinitely the most important. "
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), (Sherlock Holmes)

day 2: emilia

2008-04-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

it was serendipitous that today's word was coalesce. i was carpooling to work this morning and i noticed a tree, actually two trees, in the park across the street from my house that i had never seen before. apparently, the branches of both trees had become so entangled that you can't tell when one starts and the other ends. they have grown together so much, in fact, that it looks like a space has been cut out for the telephone wires to fit through. i liked it a lot and my new roomie and i talked about taking pictures of it. how perfect that i could take pictures of it today for this project!

day 2: kristy

2008-04-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

ok, today's word was a slam dunk...so i thought....i thought i'll find things in nature growing together, the end! but i spent the day inside or in a car, so tonight i started looking around my house and then i found my formerly sad orchid. a week ago, it was shrively & had mites and was dying, then last week it started to grow a new shoot off of the dying branch and then yesterday i found a bud growing out of the deadish (the yellow part!) leaves at the bottom with two new leaves sprouting out as well. a new plant growing in, through and around the old sickly plant which may in fact be saving the parts that had previously turned brownish...the new & the old, coalescing, joining forces...to bloom another day. yay.

i have to add that two weeks ago, a little boy at school gave me a rock that he found outside while we were having a fire drill. he told me to put it in my garden so it would grow to be beautiful...being april in maine, i am currently sans garden, so i put the rock in my orchid and this was the tipping point for the ailing plant...so while the new and the old coalesce, they were inspired to do so by the rock...

day 2

2008-04-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

today's word via Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:

coalesce • \koh-uh-LESS\ • verb

1 : to grow together
2 a : to unite into a whole : fuse
*b : to unite for a common end : join forces
3 : to arise from the combination of distinct elements

day 1: emilia

2008-04-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

ok. i work in la jolla, ca. there aren't many shenanigan's being had by the millionaires and tourists. this was pretty tough for me as well. at first i thought i would take a picture of a girl (she) with my cat (nana) holding a bottle of gin. Then wikipedia saved by butt yet again. Here is what the good wiki people had to say about shenanigans: "the origin of the word is unknown but possibly originates from the irish sionnachuighim, meaning 'i play the fox.'" So what better place than the good ol' watering hole The Red Fox Room. i'm sure there have been years of shenanigans going on inside that place!

day 1: kristy

2008-04-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

shenanigans...being april 1st aka day of fooling, this should have been easy inspiration for a photo, but it was SO hard! the only trick played on me today was by youtube who "rickrolled" me when i went to watch a video...nothing like a few minutes of astley and 'never gonna give you up' to start off april with a laugh. let's hope tomorrow is less tricky and shenanigan-ish! (that red hue is from my camera i couldn't stop it OR cover it...!)

Day 1.

2008-04-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today's word via Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:

shenanigan • \shuh-NAH-ih-gun\ • noun

1 : a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose

2 a : tricky or questionable practices or conduct -- usually used in plural

b : high-spirited or mischievous activity -- usually used in plural